Electrical plug and socket



Jan. 6, 194 l .5. w. WALTERS 2,434,026-

ELECTRICAL PLUG AND SOCKET Filed. Sept. 1, 1944 f Navy! I 42 DANIEL w. WALTERS INVENTOR.

Patented Jan. 6, 1948 ELECTRICAL PLUG AN D SOCKET.

Daniel W. Walters, West Los Angeles, Califz, as-

signer to .I'. D. Buchanan, Burbank, Calif.

Application September 1, 1944,, Serial,NQ-, 552,26}?

1 Claim. (Cl. 1739:1330) The invention relates to an electrical plug and socket.

With the usual type of connector, the plug is inserted into and removed from the socket by moving the plug straight in or out, that is, by moving the plug along the longitudinal axis of the socket. This has the disadvantage that the plug may be accidentally or unintentionally removed from its socket when tension is applied to the electrical conductors connected to the plug, the arrows on line 4*--4-. for example, in the course of using or moving Referring in detail to the drawings, theconabout the electrical apparatus connected to those nector comprises a plug l and a cooperatingsockcords. et 2, both of which have electrical connections An object oftheinvention is to provide a coopnot shown. The socket 2 comprises a body'm'emcrating. plug. and socket having arrangements bershavingat its rear ends, somewhat T-shaped whereby it is impossible to pull the plug straight end piece or cap 4, the upper portion 5- of which out from the socket. is curved to conform to the curved top of the Another object of the invention is to provide an bodymember 3. An intermediate portion of the improved andv simplified form of socket which cap 4- is of reduced width as shown at 6, to-promay be employed either with aspecialplug which vide recesses through which the terminal screws cannot be inserted or removed in a straight line, I and 8 project. The socket 2- is provided with or. with the conventional plug which can be inasuitable bracket 9 in order to hold the socket serted or pulledv out straight from the socket. To 2 in an outlet; as is well known. The bracket 9' thisiend, the invention provides a two-piece sockand cap- 4 are heldin position at the rear end of et of; insulating material, namely a body memthe socket 2 by a bolt l0 having a screwthreaded her and a cap member, wherein the body memconnection with a nut ll imbedded in the body her is. providedwith an integral midrib and with of thesocket 2. spring terminal recesses at each side of the mid- The body e er ep v ded with a P r rib, the recesses extending through the bodyfrom terminal recesses l 2-and I 3'; which lie at opposite front,- to rear, thefront end of the recessesserv- Sides of e midrib the recesses l2 ing as, openings-for the electrical prongs or tertending the fu l l n th of h b y m er 3'. minals or a plug, the rear ends ofthe recesses At the rear end of the recesses I2 and I3; the being closed by aca member which serves also midrib I4 is cut away or of reduced width as to, overlie and support the rear ends of the spring indicated at 15 and in the enlarged recess thusterminals. formed, extends the intermediate portion I6 of Another object of the invention is to guard thea a Spring ll which ms fthe s t bend in the spring terminal from being contacted terminals- The 0m? end of the leafspring' or damaged by the p1ug.termina1s This is l! is reversely bent to extend along and adjacent complished by arranging the spring terminals in the Outer l I of the recess It. The rear end recesses inthe opposite sides of the midrib, the 40 of w leaf spnng bent at fight fl fl front of the midrib being wider than its rear por- Overlles? the end of the'bodytion and overlying the bends in the spring ter- Gated-a1? andlthroughthe i i 20 h minals, thevwide from end of the midrib serving connectmg'screwli passesand1s.;secured:1n:pos1 as inner walls of recesses to receive the plug terwon by lmbedded" m the rear and the body member 3. The leaf spring terminal22. F m termmals extend m astralght similarly has its reversely bent free-end 23 armm -F zsurch'recesses as Well a f rangedin. the recess l2 and its rear end. 381s and behmde lug; whereby elther h 3 provided with the terminal screw 7. l l' p ue vi Straight. terminals Q a Special In assembling the various parts of the, socket plug-wi h c r edt rminals for, thecam may b 2 together, the leaf springs IT and Here inserted used: 7 through the rear endof'the recesses l2 and I3? For-further details. ofthe invention, reference and cap l is placed'over the oppositely extending maybe made tothe drawings wherein Fig, 1 is rear ends 26 and 38 of the socket terminals; can a vertical sectional-viewer a plug and socket 4 fitting" onthe rear end o f-body-35and being according. to the. present invention,- the'section held-in position by screw Ill. Therearend 01" having been taken onthe broken line llor'Fi-g.

2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the plug and socket of Fig. 1'.

Fig. 3' is a rear view in elevation of the plug and socket of Fig. 1, looking" in the direction ofthe arrows on the line 33.

Fig. 4 is a front view in elevation of the plug and: socket of Fig; 1, looking in the direction of 4 fits against the outwardly extending ends and 3B of the socket terminals, also cap 4 covers the rear ends of the recesses I2 and I3 and as the reduced width portion 6 of cap 4 is wider than the over-all width of both recesses I2 and I3, the rear terminal ends 20 and 38 are clamped between cap 4 and the rear end of the socket body as indicated at 40 and M. Also cap portion 6 serves as an abutment to support and resist rearward movement of spring terminals I1 and 22 when the plug is pushed in the socket. The front end of the midrib I4 is wider than its rear portion whereby the front walls 42 and 43 of the recesses I2 and I3 serve to extend in front of the bends 44 and 45 at the front of the spring terminals I1 and 22 to guard such bends against damage by the front ends of the plug terminals 32 and 36.

As shown in Fig. 1, the intermediate portion I6 and the free end portion I8 of the leaf spring H are rather wide in a vertical direction, and much wider than usual because the plug terminals described later move not only along the longitudinal axis of the socket, but also across that axis and thereby provide an extended contact surface.

The inside of the upper portion of the front wall 24 of the recess I3 is provided with an arcuate or guiding and cam surface 25 which is concentric with a center 26 on the front of the socket 2, above and crosswise of the longitudinal axis of the socket. The front wall of the recess I2 has a parallel and similar curved surface not shown.

The plug I has an axial bore 21 through which electrical wires may pass for connection with the terminal screws 28 and 29 having nuts 30 and 3I imbedded in the plug I. Associated with the screw 29 is a plug terminal 32 which is a flat strip curved in its own plane so that the upper curved edge 33 thereof fits the curved surface 25 and hence the curved edge 33 of the plug terminal 32 is concentric with the upper horizontal edge 34 (Fig. 4), of the plug I when the plug is in the socket. The lower edge 37 of the terminal 32 is concentric with its upper edge 33. The entrance 35 to the socket terminal recess I3 has a width and breadth which are substantially the same or only slightly larger than the radial crosssectional area of the curved plug terminal 32.

The other plug terminal 36 is parallel to and similar in construction to the terminal 32, the arrangement being such that it is impossible to either insert or withdraw the plug I by bodily movement thereof along the longitudinal axis of the socket 2, because the curved portion 25, and a similar curved wall not shown for the plug terminal 36, extend respectively in front of the plug terminals 32 and 36. However, the plug I can be inserted into the socket 2 by moving the plug I from an upwardly tilted position to the position shown in Fig. 1, by tilting or pivoting the plug I about its front edge 34 with the latter resting on the face of the socket 2, and this tilting movement is assisted because the curved or cam surfaces like 25 serve to guide or cam the terminals 32 and 36 from a tilted to the aligned position shown in 4 Figs. 1 and 2. The plug is, of course, removed by tilting or pivoting it in the reverse direction.

A standard plug having straight terminals or prongs can be used with socket 2 as the socket apertures like 35 have a size and spacing to fit a standard plug, the free ends I8 and 23 of the socket terminals extending in alignment with the socket apertures 35, as well as extending above the socket apertures 35 and behind the cam surface 25. The standard plug can, of course, be inserted and removed by the usual straight movement of the plug.

The plug I and socket 2 may be fitted to ether somewhat in the manner of a lock and key, the plug terminals 32 and 36 comprising the key, the entrances such as 35 to the socket terminal recesses I2 and I3 comprising key Ways, and the walls such as 24 comprising a mask or obstruction which prevents the plug I from being axially withdrawn, requiring a special manipulation of the plug I by tilting movement thereof as above described.

A very effective contact is obtained between the plug and socket, because the plug terminal 32 fits and is wedged between the outer wall I9 of the recess I3, and the free or spring end I8 of the socket terminal I'I, while plug terminal 36 is wedged between the outer wall of recess I2 and the spring terminal 22. A large contact surface is also provided due to the slant position of the curved plug terminal 32 which overlies the socket terminal portion I8 which has an extended width and height as shown in Fig. 1.

The cap 4, body portion 3 of the socket 2, and the body of the plug I may all be made of suitable insulating material and, for example, may be cast or molded of suitable plastic material. Also the number of plug terminals and corresponding socket'terminals may be more or less than two, as illustrated.

It will be apparent that various other modifications may be made in the above invention without departing from the spirit of the following claim. For example, if the plug is to resist a pull in an upward direction, then the socket 2 shown in Fig. 1 may be mounted upside down, whereby the plug I would be tilted upwardly to insert it in the socket.

I claim:

A socket comprising a body member having a midrib and a spring terminal recess extending through the body member from front to rear at each side of said midrib, the front ends of said recesses serving as openings to receive the prongs of a plug, a terminal having a free spring end in each of said recesses, the rear end of said body member being substantially flat, said terminals having rear ends oppositely extending substantially in a plane on the rear end ofsaid body member, a cap member fitting on the rear end of,

said body member and having an intermediate portion narrower than said body member covering the rear ends of said recesses and supporting the rear ends of said spring terminals, the rear ends of said spring terminals having extensions beyond said intermediate cap portion and. a ter-. minal connector for each of said extensions, said body member being of one piece of insulating material havingan integral arcuate surface at the top and front inner side of each'of said recesses, each of said arcuate surfaces being concentric with a point below the top of the front end of said body member, each of said spring terminals extending. behind and below its arcuate surface, and the height of the rear endof each of said 5 recesses being greater than the height of said Number spring terminals, whereby said spring terminals 1,364,335 may be inserted into said recesses from the rear 1,364,419 of said body member. 1,742,907 DANIEL W. WALTERS. 5 1,994,880 2,060,990 REFERENCES CITED 2 03 5 The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

10 Number UNITED STATES PATENTS 538,822 Number Name Date 1,361,426 White Dec. '7, 1920 Name Date White Jan, 4, 1921 White Jan. 4, 1921 Gaynor Jan. 7, 1930 Wallbillich Mar. 19, 1935 Hines Nov. 17, 1936 De Mask Aug. 3, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany Nov. 19, 1931 

